Downtown's Conspire hosts open-mike Wednesdays

Every Wednesday night in downtown Phoenix, strangers, friends and sweethearts gather to make art happen atop a wooden stage constructed by a few do-it-yourselfers.
The homemade stage sits behind Conspire, a rough-around-the-edges boutique/coffee bar/hangout at Fifth and Garfield streets that functions as a social and shopping cooperative.



Wednesdays are open-mike nights, where a mix of young professionals, hipsters, students and artists gathers to read poetry, talk about issues or perform songs.
Before the action starts around 8 p.m., people order a cappuccino or a homemade vegan doughnut from the laconic baristas. Or they wander around the crowded front room, checking out the racks of locally made T-shirts, bicycle-tire belts and China Rain scented candles.
The shop, which opened in 2008, is in a renovated historic home and is collectively owned by eight 20- and 30-something Valley entrepreneurs who call themselves the Collectively Operated Local Artists Boutique. They run the boutique as a side project.



Conspire's founding mission is to make Phoenix a "stronger, more viable city" by connecting local artists to the broader community, according to its Web site.
"It reminds me of a super left-wing concentrate," said Hani Shawwa, 32, who visited Conspire while on a business trip from New York. Shawwa said it reminded him of the communes he lived near in Germany.
With beverages in hand, the crowd of about 50 people moves behind the tiny house and settles thigh to thigh in front of the stage painted with colorful faces, swirls and inspirational words. Soon, Phoenix's Anna Moncada, 25, calls the performers up one by one. Mostly, people read their original poetry, which varies from tongue-in-cheek tirades to melancholy musings.
Regardless of skill or subject, the crowd follows each performance with cheers, applause or snaps.
Moncada said that even though the night isn't marketed, the crowds grow almost every week as regulars and newbies spread the word on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
"It's crazy; it keeps getting bigger and bigger," she said. "It's all about attracting new people, different people."
Elorawyn Key, 34, of Mesa, is one of the newest poets to read at Conspire, reading on a recent Wednesday two originals, "Vigilance" and "Historia of my Mania."
Although Key has been writing most of her life, she hasn't performed in years and said it was the welcoming atmosphere at Conspire that persuaded her to read again.
"I am ready to share again," she said. "You're missing out if you're not sharing. You're not connected and you don't feel like you're apart of something bigger."